Washington Brinkmanship Played Big Role in Plunge of Index Tracking Americans' Outlook on Economy

The many and sometimes tortured estimates of the economic cost of this month's 16-day government shutdown have missed what likely is the most important factor: Washington's misadventures have extracted a historically high toll on America's confidence.

Inevitably, a feeling that the nation's leaders are botching the job of managing the government's finances leaves Americans fearing that the ripple effects will spread out beyond...